A Corpse for Yew

by Joyce; Jim Lavene

  “Maybe you could drop me off at the house.” She went for the least amount of time for them to talk about marriage. “I need to go out to Lake Whitley again and collect more yew samples.”

  “It’s going to be dark soon. With everything going on out there, maybe I should go with you.” He smiled at her as they stepped into the cool night air. “I’ll feel safer that way. You can see me in action and I can watch you collect yew. And we’ll have plenty of time for you to feel uncomfortable about the idea of getting married again.”

  Peggy was trapped. She knew there was no way out. She was going to have to take Steve out to the lake with her. And talk about marriage. She wished she knew what to say. “That’s really great!”

  They got in the Saturn and started down Steele Creek Road. Peggy kept the conversation away from marriage by talking about anything and everything she could think of. She ran out of words by the time they’d reached Steve’s patient’s home.

  He turned off the engine after pulling in the driveway and looked at her. “If you don’t want to get married yet, that’s okay. We don’t have to pretend it’s not there. I don’t want to rush you into anything. Well, I do. But I won’t.”

  Peggy blinked, and tried to think of something light-hearted to say. All she could come up with was “Thanks. It’s not that I don’t want to . . .”

  “I understand . . . I think.” He reached behind the seat for his medical bag. “It’s a long ride out to the lake. Maybe you can explain while we’re driving.”

  Great! Peggy pushed a bobby pin back into her hair too hard and bit her lip when it hurt. He was right. It was half an hour from here to the lake. She’d better think fast.

  It wasn’t that she wouldn’t marry Steve, if she were going to marry anyone. It wasn’t that she had meant to lead him in this direction, although she had known this time would come. Steve was a good man with slightly old-fashioned values that would dictate that they should get married. Not that she was exactly comfortable with the idea of sleeping with him without the benefit of clergy. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have such a hard time telling her family and the rest of the world. She still didn’t want her snoopy neighbor, Clarice, knowing about it. She supposed that spoke volumes. Who was she to call Steve old-fashioned?

  A petite, dark-haired woman opened the door as they approached the small frame house. “I’m so glad to see you, Dr. Steve. Alma is so sick. I don’t know what she’s eaten this time. I hope you can help her.”

  The woman put her hand on Steve’s arm and looked invitingly into his face. Peggy smirked. She was flirting with him! Maybe her pet wasn’t sick at all. Steve was an attractive man, and Peggy didn’t blame the woman for thinking about him that way. She didn’t like it, but there wasn’t much she could do to prevent it from happening, short of tying him up in her basement.

  The woman looked past him and smiled. “Oh, you brought your mother with you. How nice!”

  That was a little unsettling. Peggy raised her chin and held out her hand to the other woman. “I’m Dr. Margaret Lee. I’m Steve’s fiancée. Nice to meet you.”

  Steve glanced at her with a raised brow, but didn’t say anything. The woman congratulated them, then led Steve to her pet. She looked a little disappointed, but Peggy decided she could get over it. It was bad enough she was flirting with Steve, but then she had the nerve to suggest Peggy was his mother. That was too much!

  Peggy glanced into a mirror as they walked behind the woman. The fiery red hair that had plagued her so much as she was growing up wasn’t there anymore. No one would be likely to call her “Carrot Top” now. Her face didn’t look that bad, but maybe she needed to think about dyeing her hair. Steve wouldn’t want everyone thinking he was going out with someone old enough to be his mother. Maybe that was what she was afraid of from the beginning. Steve was eight years younger than her, and good-looking besides. Someday she might look like his grandmother!

  “Alma!” The woman searched for her pet in the great room. “Come out! Dr. Steve is here to see you.”

  They were standing in the center of the room waiting for Alma when a large iguana finally waddled toward them.

  “There you are, you bad girl!” The woman picked up the large lizard, which was difficult for her to hold. “She’s been like this all day, Dr. Steve. I think she ate another pencil or something.”

  Steve put down his bag and took the iguana from her. He sat down in a chair to examine the creature while Peggy sat down across from him to watch.

  “I think you’re right, Mrs. Bishop. Alma probably ate something bad again. Has she been spitting?”

  “No, not today. She’s pooped a lot, though. Do you think she’ll need surgery?”

  “Probably not.” Steve carefully felt the lizard’s round belly. “She’ll probably pass whatever it is. Even though she’s not spitting, if she’s going to the bathroom, she’s still okay. Give me a call in the morning and let me know how she’s doing. Any idea what she ate?”

  “My son’s hamster is missing. Do you think Alma could’ve eaten it?”

  “No. She’s a vegetarian. She should be fine, but we’ll see how she is tomorrow.”

  “Thank you so much for coming.” Mrs. Bishop took Alma from him. “She’s bad, but she’s my baby. I don’t know what I’d do without her. You’re the best vet in the city, Dr. Steve.”

  “Thanks.” He smiled and wiped his hands with a towelette from his bag. “Alma is one of my best patients.”

  “I suppose you have a lot of patients.” She stroked the iguana as she spoke, but her eyes were on Steve. “I remember when I first met you. You were new in town and didn’t know anyone. We almost made it out for dinner one night.”

  Peggy was surprised to see a blush rise on Steve’s face before he responded. “We did. I appreciate you still bringing Alma to me. I hope you find the hamster. Good night, Mrs. Bishop.”

  Steve and Peggy didn’t speak again until they were in the VUE. “I hope you aren’t taking all of that in and getting ready to throw it back at me,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t have guessed your patient was an iguana.” She skirted a bed of purple pansies that seemed to be doing better than average. The Bishop lawn was a healthy, suspect shade of green, too. They were obviously watering.

  She couldn’t mention the wisecrack about her being his mother. It might be stupid, but she felt vulnerable about the age difference between them. Steve would only reassure her that it didn’t matter, and then she’d feel worse. “I didn’t realize you could treat so many different species. Dogs. Horses. Lizards.”

  He started the engine. “Don’t blow me off, Peggy. You know what I’m talking about.”

  “I’m guessing you met her before you met me. That doesn’t bother me. You’re an attractive, single man. Why wouldn’t she want to go out with you?”

  “Fine.” He turned back away from town, toward the lake. “We won’t talk about Mrs. Bishop. Let’s talk about getting married.”

  “I thought you said you wouldn’t push.”

  “You were fast enough to claim me in front of Mrs. Bishop. Why throw me away now?”

  “I don’t know what made me say that. I guess I didn’t want her to go on about me being your mother, which is biologically impossible.”

  “I’m sure it was biology that made you tell her we’re engaged. In the animal kingdom, unlike plants, we tend to want to claim our mates so that other animals stay away from them. You were just marking your territory, so to speak.”

  “Not a pleasant thought.”

  He laughed. “No matter how much you love plants, Sweetie, you can’t be one. You’re an animal like the rest of us, with certain needs and desires that have to be satisfied. I hope that’s where I come in. At least I thought that was where I came in, until your parents moved up here and made me your girlfriend.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean by ‘girlfriend.’ My parents, and Paul, are just concerned about me. They don’t want me to make a mistake.”

  “No.
Paul doesn’t want you to forget his father. Your mom and dad want you to be their little girl again. You can have a girlfriend who hangs around and talks trash with you, but you can’t have a man friend who spends the night.”

  “Steve—”

  “Peggy, you have to tell them, or we can’t go on. If it would make it easier, you can say we’re going to be married. We could be engaged for awhile.”

  “How long is ‘awhile’?”

  He shrugged as he turned onto a less traveled road where there were no streetlights. “I guess as long as you want it that way. I’m okay with that as long as everyone realizes we’re a couple and we share a bed. I don’t have to move in full-time, but I don’t want to keep lying to Paul. I’m not good at playing games with people.”

  Peggy considered his words. Maybe he was right. She might not be ready to marry again . . . just yet . . . but if she ever was, she’d want it to be Steve. “I love the way you are. I wouldn’t want you to be any different. Maybe we should do the engagement thing for awhile.”

  “That works for me.” Steve took her hand and kissed it. “You know that I have absolutely no feelings for you as my mother whatsoever, right?”

  “I certainly hope not.” She squeezed his hand. “I don’t think of you as a son.”

  “Then we’re good to go! When do you want to announce our engagement?”

  “How about Tuesday night at dinner? Everyone will be there. It seems like the perfect time.”

  “Tuesday it is.” He brought the SUV to a stop. “I think we’re here. Where’s the lake?”

  Peggy got out and turned on the miniflashlight she always carried in her purse. Its tiny beam didn’t do much to alleviate the darkness. A bigger flashlight beam bounced around the area from the back of the SUV.

  “Good thing I brought these along.” Steve took another big flashlight from a dirty duffel bag. “That tiny little thing isn’t made for this kind of terrain.”

  Peggy recognized the bag. “I saw this in your closet the other day, and wondered why it was full of muddy clothes.”

  “You were in my closet?”

  “I was . . . cleaning, remember?”

  “What did you think I did with it? Why didn’t you ask me about it?”

  “After asking you about your family, it was hardly the time to bring anything else up.”

  Steve turned off his flashlight and set it down in the duffel. He took Peggy in his arms and kissed her. “I get dirty sometimes going out into the field and treating animals. It’s a simple explanation, nothing too deep or dramatic.”

  “I suppose.” Really, she would’ve been happy just to stand there with him in the dark and not talk about the duffel bag or any of the other doubts that had plagued her for the past two days.

  He rummaged around in the bag and brought out a few more things. “These are dart guns. I use them to tranquilize animals I can’t approach while they’re conscious. The GPS is for walking around in the woods at the horse farm. Does that make you feel any better?”

  Peggy wanted to put the whole thing aside. She felt ridiculous enough that she’d had so many doubts about him over one picture and a pistol on his bedside table. She could even be philosophical about it: How well did anyone know the person they fell in love with?

  They heard a sound from the general area of the dry lake, but the trees and shrubs muffled the noise. Steve pulled Peggy behind him and took the pistol out of the duffel bag. “Shh! You stay here and let me check this out.”

  She knew he couldn’t see her face, but she stuck her tongue out at him anyway. “I’m not staying anywhere. If you’re going down there, so am I.”

  He didn’t respond, and she followed him away from the SUV. There was a bright light, hidden by heavy red cedar trees. As they came around the thick stand of trees, Peggy could tell the light was focused on the area where the historical society had been gathering bones and artifacts. She took careful steps as they wove their way closer and closer to the light, thinking of bone thieves working in the dark.

  Of course, the police were long done with the crime scene and nowhere to be found. The security guard the museum had hired to watch the site had quit after they’d found Lois. The police had learned he hadn’t been at his post the night before Lois died.

  The situation was making her nervous. Maybe she should’ve stayed behind and called 911. The trees and bushes swayed in the light breeze that chased the clouds from the sky, allowing some starlight to penetrate the night. Peggy could hear someone whistling, but still couldn’t see anything beyond the underbrush that surrounded the lake.

  As she and Steve rounded a point between the brush where the police and the historical society had accessed the lake bed, she saw a figure standing in the deep mud. It appeared to be a man in high boots and a T-shirt. He was sifting through the bones he’d found, tossing what he wanted to the edge of the lake. A sizable pile of bones and artifacts had formed, the bright light gleaming on them.

  “Let me call the police,” she whispered to Steve. Neither one of them was trained to confront someone who might use deadly force to defend himself.

  “He’ll be gone by the time anyone can get out here.” Steve nodded toward the man, who was already climbing out of the mud to look at his haul. “You said this was illegal and bad for your historical society. You call the police. I’ll hold him until they get here.”

  15

  Staghorn sumac

  Botanical: Rhus typhina

  Native Americans made a drink from the staghorn sumac’s crushed, red fruit. It is now known to be very high in vitamin C, and may have helped tribes stay healthy before the coming of the Europeans and diseases they had never encountered. The tannin-rich bark and foliage were used as a tanning agent.

  PEGGY WOULD’VE ARGUED THE POINT, but Steve was already creeping toward the man, and she didn’t want to give him away. Filled with terrible visions of the bone thief shooting Steve, she took out her cell phone and whispered into it when the 911 operator answered.

  The darkness seemed terribly quiet. She couldn’t even hear cars going by on the main road.

  “What is your address?” the operator asked.

  Peggy wanted to shush her. The woman’s voice sounded very loud in the night. “I don’t have an address. I mean, I have my home address, but I’m not at home. I’m at Lake Whitley, and a man is out here stealing bones and artifacts. Can you send someone?”

  “We can’t send someone without an address,” the operator told her. “Lake Whitley is a big place. I’m sure you wouldn’t want officers wandering around out there until they find you.”

  “All right,” Peggy said. “I’m at the scene of Lois Mullis’s death.”

  “Why are you there? That area is off-limits. You should leave immediately.”

  “I’ll leave if you’ll send help,” she whispered back. “My . . . boyfriend . . . is confronting the thief. He needs help.”

  “You should both leave right away,” the operator persisted. “That’s no place for you and your boyfriend to hang out.”

  It was all Peggy could do not to scream at the woman. She took a deep breath and calmly said, “My name is Dr. Margaret Lee. I work with the medical examiner’s office. I’m out here collecting samples, and this man appeared. Can you send someone?”

  “Why didn’t you say so?” the operator responded. “I have someone on the way.”

  Peggy closed her phone and turned back to try to locate Steve. The bone thief was sitting on the ground. He carelessly tossed a few leg and arm bones aside and rubbed an old skull on his shirt to clean it. He held several artifacts up to the bright light. One looked like a ceramic chamber pot.

  Peggy couldn’t see Steve in the darkness but knew he was out there somewhere. Her heart was racing as she clenched her hands into fists, feeling powerless to prevent something terrible from happening. She wanted to do something—she certainly couldn’t stand there and let Steve get hurt.

  All of her was focused on the scene in front of
her. It was like being caught in a living nightmare as she relived those awful moments when Al had come to her door to tell her that John was dead. For weeks, she’d imagined what it had been like when John was killed. She’d walked by the house where he’d been shot, wondering about it and visualizing the scene from start to finish. Surely this couldn’t happen twice in her life.

  Finding a heavy piece of wood she could use as a club, Peggy advanced on the bone thief with every intention of hitting him if necessary. She’d never really hurt another human being in her life, but this was different. She had to be strong.

  Her ears strained for any sound of Steve advancing on the man. She couldn’t hear anything except a few crickets. How could he walk through the leaves and brush without making any noise?

  She moved to the right of the light and hefted her piece of wood to her shoulder, hoping she looked menacing. She also hoped Steve wasn’t coming from the left. He might accidentally shoot her if he was aiming for the thief and was startled when she jumped out. There was no way of knowing. She’d have to take her chances.

  Suddenly Steve came out from behind what looked to be a large staghorn sumac bush, its bright red leaves almost gleaming in the weird lighting. He leveled his gun, using two hands. “Don’t move! You’re under arrest!”

  The man fell facedown and put his hands behind his head. Steve seemed uncertain what to do next. Peggy jumped out with her piece of wood. “And don’t look up!” She turned to Steve. “I have my nitric gloves. We can tie his hands together.”

  Steve looked amazed to see her. “I don’t think we should do that. What are you doing out here? You were supposed to stay by the Saturn. You could’ve been hurt.”

  “So could you,” she countered. “I can’t believe you’d come down here like this. What were you thinking?”

  “ ’Scuse me,” the man on the ground said, “what’re you doin’ here? You’re not cops. I’ll just get up now and be on my way.”